The new buzz at Coffee Hour (the UU group blog) is the new book by Michael Durall entitled The Almost Church: Redefining Unitarian Universalism for a New Era. Oh, dear.
I want to want to read it. But I’ve been around the UU block a few times, and the one constant is that we’uns get all het up about “the next big thing” about fifteen years after everyone else does — and usually after the moment has passed. (Top-down megachurch planting, anyone?) This, more than our theological situation, makes me roll my eyes and get all snarky. I’m tired of being late to every party.
In case you’ve been wondering why I obsess about the use of technology and what trends are going on in the ecumenical church.
Now, there’s the rub: Durall has this figured out it seems, but can he say anything to UUs, who have proven incapable of hearing? Or is he saying anything new? And if not, is getting and reading his book another in the string of must-read/don’t-use books that come down the pike? (I have read several of the books on his recommended books list.)
I’ll wait and see.
You make me sad.
This is the first I’d heard of there being a trend of being fifteen years behind.
You may be interested to know that Durall spends a chapter arguing against the recent “big church planting” initiative. And I’m not so sure the moment has passed for following his advice. As long as there are local churches still pretending that fifty-year-old methods are the only way to get things done, his observations will be timely.
I’m curious: why do you think it is, as you said, that UUs don’t have ears to hear?